Community revolutionary object: strengthening post-capitalist societies

Abstract

The hope for a unique revolutionary actor in the XX Century evaporated as a result of the weaknesses of social organizations in the face of the multiple crises that proliferated in the post-war era, generating doubts about the possibility of revolutionary change. This paper examines the potential of an almost forgotten group of revolutionary actors –collectively organized and deliberately involved in processes of social and productive transformation with a legitimate claim to territory– whose present-day activities involve them in concerted processes to consolidate a different social structure on the margins of the global capitalist system. Indigenous and peasant communities throughout the Americas are self-consciously restructuring their organizations and governance structures, taking control of territories they claimed for generations. They are also reorganizing production to generate surplus, assembling their members to take advantage of underutilized resources and peoples’ energies for improving their ability to raise living standards and assure environmental conservation and restoration. These communities are not operating in isolation. They coordinate activities, share information, and build alliances. Hundreds of millions of people are participating in this growing movement; they occupy much more than one-quarter of the world’s land area. There is great potential for others to join them, expanding from the substantial areas where that are already operational, transforming societies and ecosystems, consolidating post-capitalist societies.